They're still counting ballots for Referendum 71, but it appears that an astonishing evolution has taken place, in only 12 years

In 1997, Washington voters delivered a devastating defeat to gays and lesbians. By a landslide -- 60 percent to 40 percent -- voters decided discrimination was just fine, so long as it targeted gays and lesbians.

Voters rejected a law that would have outlawed discrimination against this minority.

That's pretty amazing when you consider what's happening this week. True, mail ballots are still being counted. But it looks as if Washington voters are about to go where no state voters have gone before. Approval of Referendum 71 would make Washington the first state to expand equal rights for gays and lesbians by popular vote.

State legislatures have expanded protections. And state supreme courts have expanded them, as California's did in 2008, ruling that equal protection under the state Constitution demanded that gays and lesbians be able to marry.

But the voice of the people of an entire state, when it has sounded before this week, has roared "no" to gay equality, most emphatically to the question of allowing same-sex marriage. Last fall, in fact, California voters approved Proposition 8, erasing same-sex marriage. And, on Tuesday, Maine voters also erased it.

Five years ago, 1,028,546 Oregonians demoted gay and lesbian citizens, too, when voters carved discrimination into the Oregon Constitution. They voted for Measure 36, defining marriage as between a man and a woman. To the degree that Oregonians lost their balance in that election, the Oregon Legislature pulled the state back on track in 2007. It approved both anti-discrimination legislation and a strong domestic partnership law for gays and lesbians.

Washington's Referendum 71 similarly grants such couples "everything but marriage." But this week's probable victory in Washington for domestic partnerships will almost certainly be overshadowed by the defeat of marriage in Maine.

And yet 10 years ago, the idea of same-sex marriage was barely on the horizon. Then, people were battling over creating a parallel legal universe of domestic partnerships. That idea in and of itself seemed radical to many.

The compromise that Vermont crafted, called civil unions, sparked fear and outrage. Opponents said it would harm the institution of marriage.

Today, Vermont is one of five states that have legalized same-sex marriage. The gay-rights group Basic Rights Oregon recently said it hopes to relaunch the conversation here about that subject in preparation for a ballot measure in a few years, perhaps 2012.

And it's an important conversation to have. Of course, Basic Rights Oregon announced its intentions before the votes in Maine and Washington.

But the reality is, progress on gay rights has moved so quickly, over all, that the goal posts have shifted now -- and that's the nature of a civil rights struggle. It gathers momentum, sweeps people along with it, redefining fairness as it goes.

Twelve years ago -- just a blink in historical terms -- Washington voters said "no" to an anti-discrimination law. This week, it appears, they've reorganized the universe of state laws to ensure gay and lesbian families have parallel protections. This is part of an evolution so breathtaking, in truth, it qualifies as a revolution.